Pacific Division Title Lost?

So are you like a lot of other Stars fans thinking that the Pacific Division Title is lost? Well, let me shed some light in the matter real quick. Bottom line, it's not...and here is why. The Sharks and Ducks play each other on Wednesday. The Sharks need to take that win without overtime. Then, Dallas needs to win against the Blue Jackets and the Ducks. Beating the Ducks will give them two losses on their last 3 games. Now for the Sharks - they need to loose against the Flames and the Canucks to give them their two losses in their final 2 games after their win over the Ducks. And finally, the Stars need to continue their two game winning streak after Columbus and Anaheim and beat Chicago on Sunday. That is the way I see the Stars as the Pacific Division Champs! Something else to ponder, if all the top teams loose the rest of their games for one reason or another, Dallas will win the Presidents Trophy as well...but likely won't happen...but it could!

Standing Tall

I've been hesitating a post because I kept hoping for good news, and while I have some (interviewed my favorite Ice Girl tonight) it isn't exactly the news I was hoping for. I try to stay away from this phrase, but I think it's fair to say: The Stars are in a slump.

The month of February was a good one. The team went 8-2-1, with some of our best long-term hockey since we opened the season. However, coming out of February has been disastrous. Tippet can't find harmony with the lines, the lines can't find harmony with each other, and the goals our team is barely posting 1.5 goals per game. To top that off our league best lowest goals record has shit the bed dropping 9 points in the last two games to bring us 3 behind the Devils and tied with Detroit, yeah you heard me right, the Red Wings. Just a week ago we had 9 goals on the ladies in red, and now we're holding hands with them.

Now, I'm not pushing the panic button. I still believe if starting Friday at the Blue Jackets we can clean up our passes, target our shots better and actually pepper the net and not the post we can retake the Sharks, who are sub 500 hockey in the last 10, and overtake the Ducks, who are barely pulling ahead with single-point OTLs. But we can ill afford these games where we spend the first two periods watching the other team talley points and then try to come back in the third period. Want to know why we got beat 4-0 on Sunday? Because our previous 3 games had been 100 yard dashes at the end, because we couldn't concentrate, because our passing was inconsistent and because while our hearts are there, our minds are out picking daisies.

We have a contending team, no, we ARE a contending team. I want to see these boys walk out of their locker room tomorrow night, stand proudly on the ice in Columbus and stare down Brain Boucher, Fredrik Norrena & Pascal Leclaire and show them what we're made of, show them (whichever unlucky bastard ends up in the net) what it's like to play against a championship team.

And in honor of this joyous declaration I bring you one of the most classic "tough get going" speeches of all time, you'll recognize this from the 3rd period Jumbotron videos:

Getting our butts kicked never felt so good!

Come on guys, do you really feel like throwing the towel in now? We haven't been beat by four regulation goals like we did on Sunday since the beginning of January. We were due. We played bad but not that bad. Heck, we peppered the post at least two if not three times and the saves Nabokov made were phenomenal. You know as well as I do that when we play against the Sharks and Nabokov is on his game, he is almost impossible to score on. The Sharks were coming off a four game loosing streak and needed a change of pace.

The whole series against the Sharks this year went 5-3 our way. We have consistently gained points on the majority of the Pacific Division teams this season which builds confidence when and if we see them in the playoffs. Would we have liked to take that last game? Yes. Did it kill us that we lost? No. Are we in a loosing slump? Absolutely not. We have three days to regroup and take it to St. Louis and Columbus who have both beat us in the past meetings. So we are eight points away from Anaheim however, we have two games in hand and two games against them so it is well within reach. Just focus on the "soft" upcoming schedule and play solid hockey while the Ducks and Sharks keep on their shaky track! March Madness baby!!